<, :<"",;"-< '>;;'::'øÄ<,,**llirv "*. fw, <:. Är'\* ' ,..... '.:-.. .......:;.:............".{(... : ...: : ; j ' ,"r'" ,.;:i:i !?:: . v, ,....., ., . . '. ....... / ];1,1 :. f 1 l r itf :::::A!:{r. ". .'::;t . ....... ":-:.. :-:..: : l: '\': :..; "; äi{ '; Ä-;: : ::::::" ..... f t ': :" : ., i I ' v;:'., '..:,' 'v , :: ..:: :' ^ .".. ::., . : . , ...::;........:.:, .,:;;...i:.::.:. i I..'..>:. ,. , ; L ,,: - j t, :j " lfi,1;;:, ' tft ' .:: " . r ' ::-.. . , , ;: ! :::. ;;,i : : ;:. ". ,. t " ., ':; .:::... ....:..: .':4,1 .'" :,;P- i . . "'::t.. , J: . . .':':.' ': il f j$ '0;; þ ' F -.-,)'.:---'..-". -. "1 want an open car-son-zething- I can, 1nake speeches fron-z." . he usually does-the profit is his. He does not work on a percentage basis, lIke most booking agents. He even of- fers people like Rudy V allée a lump sum for an appearance, and pockets what- ever surplus he gets for the act. He doesn't, of course, have many people like Rudy Vallée to offer. The country fairs and amusement parks are Hamid's chief sources of rev- enue, but in recent years he has begun to do a modest business with carnivals and circuses. Nine of his acts were in the big circus at Madison Square Gar- den last spring, among them the tum- bling Arabs, the acrobatic J aps, and the Hungarians in fancy boots who bounced themselves off springboards. He be- lieves an Arah renaissance is approach- ing. He has had more than a hundred of them working steadily this season, which is more than have been working for a good many years. He has such faith in country fairs that he actually owns and operates one him- self. This is the North Carolina State Fair, at Raleigh. In the boom years, the fair had been running at a deficit, which was paid every year by the state, and when the depression came it looked as if the fair would have to be aban- . doned. Hamid didn't want this source of revenue to disappear. He offered to take over the whole project and pay the state $6,000 a year for the privilege. The state accepted. Last year Hamid made a good profit, and expects to go on' doing that. He met a somewhat similar situation in the same way not long ago by buying the \Vhite City Amusement Park near Worcester, Massachusetts. It is on a paying basis today. All the acts that thrill and per- plex the customers at both places are George A. Hamid acts. T HERE is nothing of the carnival spirit about HamId's large Broad- way offices, except when he is tumbling around his rug. A large sign on the wall of the reception room says, "No contract valid unless personally signed by George A. Hamid." There are a few photographs of Buff ala Bill on the walls, and one of Uncle Ameen, the man who took young Hamid away from Broumana thirty years ago. The handsomest thing in Hamid's office is the catalogue called "Hamid Attractions." It is as heavy and as hard to hold as a Sunday Times, and this year the cover is red and blue, designed to look like a 21 t':i ""k.W. ... :..,: r I::..: . ; . t. ;':f?#;-- .,.1; ;4 !f :x';"' :,J f-: :? : :;::. ;::: '''':,'>:'' .;.;.:.::..:....> . ,.'<;i' ..,">>"v : .. ::' :f-' : /.Jf :.;::...::(.:: ., ..... ...............-.. .::).(" .".. .": . ::-:. (;:=? '.. ::-.., :C * ; . <tv .:; ::... ........ :. ::. .,........ ..:.;..... . t::-.- :'. :.: :: ;.:: ........ ........ . pinwheel rocket revolving in the sky. Each inside page is devoted to a Ham- id attraction, with photographs, and a prose style that is as unrestrained as a back flip-flop. Hamid writes some of the prose himself and edits all the passages, toning them up. One of his underlings this year wrote of the Balabanow Five, "These Miracle \\T orking Musicians Play Hauntingly and Suavely Divine Syncopation, Accompanied by Delicate- ly Lingering Songs and Jolly Dances." Hamid studied this for some time, ad- miring it, and then brought it up to what he considers par. He made the last phrase read, "Accompanied by Delicately Lingering Songs and Jolly F eatherfooted Dances." Hamid lives in a big house in Forest Hills. The Ham... ids have a son, George A. Hamid, Jr., born in 1918, who is going to \Vest Point when he finishes his course at the New York Military Academy. The young man has never liked circuses or fairs. There is a daughter, Zine, born in 1923, who wants to go into her father's business. As he grows older, Hamid continues to develop his theories about agriculture. He is able to speak of the subject with a good deal of solemnity these days. "If every drop of oil evaporated tom or- " h " d b " f " row, e says, an every It 0 are In our hills was dug up and flung away, what would remain? Agriculture! I do all I can to encourage it." -A. J. LIEBLING